Thursday, May 10, 2007

Housing squeeze continues

Excerpt from an interview with the HPD Commissioner from Metro:

While there are clearly still middle-class people who leave New York City, there’s also an enormous growth of a new middle class. Take Queens. It’s an enormous growth of the middle class there, from Caribbean and other fairly recent immigrants... That’s not to say there isn’t more of an affordability squeeze on the middle class, but that’s an area we’ve tried to address. We created, as part of the New Housing Marketplace plan, a new middle class initiative, 22,000 units funded by $300 million in city capital. Queens West is the signature example [where up to 5,000 units will be created for families earning between $60,000 - $145,000] but there are lots of other properties already under way...

After taking a job as an instructor at Outward Bound, Ms. Rubin, along with some of her co-workers, settled into the top floor of the organization’s Long Island City headquarters. She camped out in a bunk bed; others converted nearby office cubicles into sleeping spaces, or pitched tents on the building’s roof. To create some privacy, they hung towels and sheets around their bunks.

While Outward Bound officials stress that they view these cubicles and tents as temporary housing solutions, Ms. Rubin, who has since moved to Vermont for a short while, was grateful for a free place.

7 comments:

They fail to say that a good deal of the 'middle class' in Queens are sustained by city and social service jobs. Take a downturn in the city (like in the 70s) or the inevitable crackdown of the welfare state (coming sooner or later to NYC) and that segment will be hollowed out.

A good many of the 'middle class' are also looking to leave NYC to more land, better schools, etc. Its one thing to write reports, its quite another to actually talk to them.

And as to Queens 'becoming Middle Class' the reality to those of us that have actually the perspective of decades, its it slowly but surely slipping to something resembling the Bronx of a few decades ago.

Again, the myth is one thing (always fit the facts and spin to the boss's objectives.) The harsh reality is very different.

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